Lets connect the darned dots

The spectrum of my life for the last 4 years



I have found myself scoring close to 8.0, and I have found myself scoring close to 4.0.

I have found myself wearing Trivium, and I have found myself wearing pleated brown pants, and a pink shirt.

I have found myself eating authentic oriental, and I have found myself eating food worse than UN air-drops.

I have found myself possessed by Dimmu Borgir, and I have found myself spending an entire night at a crowded platform listening to "pyaar impossible."

I have found myself develop schoolboy crushes, and I have found myself repulsed by them same people.

I have found myself buying an array of self-grooming products, and I have found myself going without a bath for 9 days straight. (Winters mate)

I have found myself discussing the finer points of Indian capitalism and communism, and I have found myself discussing Kayden Kross's implants.

I have found myself making friends, and foes in equal measure...and I have found myself discovering the fuzziness in boundaries once people leave the place.

I have found myself walking for 6 kms...and I have found myself riding a bike by myself.

I have found myself as crew cut watchman , and I have found myself as a long haired transsexual.

I have found myself restless without people around me, and I have found myself begging for solitude.

I have found myself reading Milton Friedman, and I have found myself reading unkrossed.com

I have found myself buying sexy gadgets, and I have found myself filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy, 3 times a month.

I have found myself in love with Whisky, and I have found myself obsessed with beer.

I have never found myself with balance on my phone.

I have found myself with swank PDAs, and I have found myself with creaky old desktops.

I have found myself surrounded by high-end technology, and I have found myself sweating it out through 6 hour long power cuts.

I have found myself buying cuff-links for shirts, and I have found myself taking a leak off the edge of the balcony.

I have found myself making conversations with hotshot executives, and I have found myself deep in argument with an illiterate chaiwaala.

I have found myself watching Stanley Kubrick, and I have found myself watching Mithun Chakraborty.

I have found myself taking protein supplements, and I have found myself taking umm, well, glues and resins.


I have found myself to be Aneek Mukherjee, and I have found myself to be a bit of everybody else.

Growth and Attrition

Just a couple of days ago, I was watching a news report about a young couple in Delhi, who work as rag pickers. Their abstemious habits are a reflection of the abject poverty they live in. A recent legislation passed by the Sheila Dikshit Government has been the cause of the furrows that appear on the foreheads of this couple. This new rule is almost certain to deprive them of their meagre livelihood. The new rule proposes to privatize garbage collection and other ancillary businesses. The timing of this law apropos of the present situation is pertinent.

We are at a juncture where any debate against Privatization and Globalization is marked with such acerbity that there is hardly any hope for the marginalized sections of Indian society. There is an urgent need to abridge the growing gap between the two poles of the Indian economy and establish a mechanism for equitable creation and distribution of wealth. The main challenge is to acclimate ourselves with Globalization and Indianisation. Our greatest adversary and strength is in our numbers. Right in our backyard, Chinese Majors like Lenovo, Huawei, TCL, Haier, Cathay Pacific, Bank of China and many more have managed to eke out a name of their own relying entirely on domestic markets. It is a matter of great delight that our Global footprint is increasing day after day. But we need to explore extensively locally before flying globally.

Getting back to the evils of LPG – Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization. I’ll try to explore the effect that liberalization has had on the poor. I have attempted to separate normative practices from ground reality. Gross inconsistencies in formulation of Govt. public policies can be vividly illustrated through examples of small time business. Perhaps there are reforms that may create better conditions for earning a decent and honest livelihood without being weighed down by the fear of extortion and harassment. I strongly advocate that the poor reap the benefits of controlled Liberalization and Globalization and that the current license-quota system be done away with. I believe that muscle and money have meant that existing Govt. Policies are always favorable to the affluent, as they almost definitely find a way around restrictions, while the Man with limited means is left to suffer under the boundaries that, perhaps inadvertently, have been placed by the govt. Immunity to certain restrictions, that have been adduced unnecessary, would be greatly appreciated by the poor entrepreneur, who otherwise finds himself embroiled in legal roadblocks. Most importantly, this post is not a rehash of previously known facts as it seeks to ascribe the condition of the poor to the govt., contrary to popular opinion that it is a result of exploitation by the rich.

Very often, urbanization has been connected with development. This however, I believe, is debatable considering the fact that the magnitude of investment that has gone into rural development is negligibly small compared to that in urban India. This is clearly noticeable in the agrarian crisis plaguing the country today, even though we have the largest workforce in terms of the sheer humanity and extensive areas of arable land. Ironically, this sector employs close to 60% of the workforce, and is lying in shambles. Various instances can be cited that demonstrate how excessive bureaucratic control is not only creating dead-ends for those who wish to enter the market but is also exposing existing entrepreneurs to constant harassment. The terms “Dead capital and diverted capital” crop up, which again is a reference to the existing license-quota Raj that has made it extremely difficult to harness hidden value.

A number of attempts have been made in the past to alleviate the problems faced by poor businessmen. I strongly argue that the failure of these methods can be attributed to the fact that none of them is market based. A market based solution would address the problems of poor entrepreneurs without compromising on standard of living of the richer sections.

Apart from this, attacking the core of the problem would mean a restructuring of the think-tank that formulates these policies. Certainly, a single net cannot catch all kinds of fish. Government policies prepared are same across the board for all situations. De-centralization of the government at various stages is a suggested solution. What seems to be the major hurdle is the information collection. Clearly, there is a yawning gap between the ground reality and assumed reality. Decentralized policy formulation would certainly benefit from better information inflow and most importantly address problems unique to a particular area. I guess that although most Govt. Policies are prepared with the name of helping the poor, they are constructed to favor the babudom, whatever benefit the poor receives from the policy is purely incidental. Here, Milton Friedman’s sentiment is echoed -“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intention rather than their results.”

Policy framers seem to have a confirmed view that Liberalization and Globalization is the one-point solution to this problem. It is not clear to me why the existing rules cannot be changed which will better serve the interests of the poor, and how LPG could be the single substitute of all the problems the poor are facing. I hold the view that inopportune liberalization could adversely affect small time business prospects in a developing country like India. Is it not a fact that Global Giants like Walmart have eroded the livelihood of thousands of petty traders and businessmen? Globalization is not the final answer as it protects the big players and creates pressure on smaller stakeholders. Predatory trade practices by deep-pocket organizations in the name of competition will wipe out poor businessmen from the market. I am not against LPG per se, but strongly hold the view that fledging businesses, subsistence level work and entry level professions must be shielded from LPG until our Government develops better social security and economic safety nets.

As a parting comment, I believe that the Principles of Life, Liberty and Livelihood can only be realized if the Govt. also plays its role vis-à-vis the roles of the market and civil society.

Peace be with you...

crash_w!lDcHilD

Hope and Despair

4:43 AM 2nd December,07 - I couldn't really think of anything better to write about. I haven't even started my packing, and I am supposed to leave within the next 3 hours, for a month of winter vacation. With a little bit of reflection and research, this is what I came up with...

Child Labor in India is the issue I wish to focus upon. This issue concerns me because even today, a shocking 14% of Indian boys in the age group 5-14 are involved in child labor. The figure being even higher for girls. Millions of childhoods are wasted away in dull subsistence-level labor that produces minimal economic value, draining away their creativity and learning potential of future workers.

The Govt. has had Child labor laws since 1986. But that has not substantially addressed the core of the problem. Policy framers must recognise the fact that poverty is the primary cause of this problem. Statistics reveal a clear parallel between declining poverty and reduced child labor. Also, the problem is more common in areas where parents have limited access to affordable schooling. Therefore, I infer that poverty and education can never go together. This is a curse in itself because it is tricky to address both problems simultaneously. More often than not, the child’s economic contribution to the family outweighs the need to invest in his future, even in the presence of facilities like inexpensive schooling.

While the govt. intends to eliminate child labor, by banning work in hazardous establishments, factories, workshops etc, we must examine whether these laws eliminate the need for the child to work or simply move them into less desirable or even more dangerous activities. One stumbling block where most of the current policies fail is that 90% of all working children are engaged in their own rural family work, and just 0.8% are involved in factory/industry work.

My policy will address simultaneously the problems of poverty and education. I plan to employ micro credit as my principal tool, and the village would be the locus of my action. Most of the children who are involved in family businesses invariably pick up a skill or two. These skills, rather than manual work can be utilized for earning money. It would be interesting to examine, whether through microcredit, one can pull them up from the poverty trap and motivate them to study. I am fascinated by the works of Nobel Laureate Prof. Yunus in his Grameen Bank experiment at Bangladesh If it succeeds there, why not here? Considering the scale that child labor is present in our country, I have a couple of alternatives.

I would suggest yet another strategy that operates the way Amway works. Education will be promised to a child if he promises to find ways to educate two more children when he is good enough to support himself. This method, as impractical as it may seem, has worked wonderfully well for Jeroo Billimoria, founder of Childline.

In the medium term, I would like to examine how the corporates can be motivated in this area under their corporate social responsibility(CSR).Through their wide network and business acumen, we can work out how the parents of those child labor can be drafted through some innovative ways. I don’t know at the moment what this could turn out to be, but if we do some novel experiments, the problem can be addressed.

In the long term, we have to educate our people for which there is no short-cut. We can organize sensitization programs for the ordinary men and women and if we can streamline our civic engagement, perhaps enough of social capital can be built up and the child labor will be a thing of the past.

Peace be with you...

crash_w!lDcHilD

Just another bullet in the chamber.

3:44 AM – 6 more hours to go for the test…and only 6 more chapters to complete. Pretty heartening, except for the fact that there are only six chapters in this book, and fighting in the Vietnam War would be easier than trying to understand circuit analysis techniques. I don’t even know why I am trying to mug up 7 different ways of analysing an Operational Amplifier. If this is why I worked my socks off to get into this place; it was certainly not worth the labour. I guess I’ll give up circuit theory for tonight, dump my GMATism and rely on plan B. Plan B almost always works, its simple, does not employ too much mental resources and easy to use. Copying in the tests is plan B.
Well, as I said, it ALMOST always works. Problem is, everybody around me seems to be relying on plan B. That leaves very few people to put on their GMAT outfits and park their butts and swot up. From what I can gather, the exam seems to be the last thing my folks are thinking about.
I hear SMGs and AK-47s rattling away and the occasional boom of the sniper rifle, and then the radio voice announcing – Counter-Terrorists win. Some speed freak is dodging spike strips and Rhino police cars, as yet another multiplayer NFS game starts. I can know that a person of my kind is in a room, when I hear the groan of a dying Teutonic Knight, and siege rams taking down another French Castle. I hear a guy shouting from the 2nd floor asking me to share the 8th season of Southpark and the entire Justice League on the LAN. Then there are these fashion disasters (the Juuudes – that’s Dudes for you) walking around in the quadrangle, kicking sand and stones romantically, talking on the phone to their 7th girlfriend of the month. The studs, fuelled by nicotine and machismo adopted from beer commercials, respected by most and often feared, are out goofing around with their own kind. The football crazy kind is in the common room, watching EPL on our fabulous Plasma screen. The more active kind of people is playing Table tennis or badminton. The watchmen persuade a couple of boarders to join them in a game of carrom, nice diversion from a glum routine. I hear guitars, as my friend tries out a new tune. I can see two drunk guys on the first floor arguing passionately about who has a bigger manhood, soon the topic changes, they make peace and engage in a game of Kabaddi right in the corridor, surrounded by a large group of people seeking free entertainment, all this at 4 in the morning, wearing barely anything!!! In the room next to mine, the computer engineering bloke does not give a 50 cent about the exams, and is fanatically typing away…some new claptrap code. Then we have these authentic techie guys, The Steve Wozniacs of today, who are 3 steps ahead, and are right now testing their first practical application of the Operational Amplifier (see above). I see a small group of guys animatedly discussing the benefits of allowing PE notes in stock market, just that this intellectual dialogue is generously peppered with unmentionables, makes it kind of amusing for people who do not understand the ABC of business. Another guy is updating his album in a social networking site, constantly blessing and thanking Adobe Photoshop. The rooms in my corridor are playing absolutely everything, from booming Polish black metal in my room, to Spice girls in the one opposite, to the Bollywood cap dude, to inexplicable south Indian stuff. Two guys pass next to my room making comments about how jobless the junta has become. Two guys of the GMAT kind. I’ll be running after them like a tame puppy during the exam week. All this while, unremitting orders of maggi, and Top Ramen, and double bread poach and tea and coffee are being shouted out to the poor chap at the night canteen. I get a small kick in the teeth when I hear of guys downloading subject material from websites of American Universities, as if we don’t have enough shit on our plates already!!! There is this solitary zombie kind of guy, who keeps walking up and down the corridors at night freaking out fragile hearts like that of mine. I hear a lone abandoned puppy moaning at a distance in thick overgrowth behind my room, the thick fog and chilly weather gives that a slightly creepy touch. 4 rooms from mine, the door opens, with the guy yelling – “5 movies in a row, beat that bitch.”

My plate of Top ramen and cup of coffee arrives.

Grave apprehension, everybody is depending on Plan B!! As the last cigarette burns away between my fingers and the heavy metal album ends, I feel the effect of the two Avil 50 tablets kicking in, and my eyelids bravely try battling gravity. I gulp down my cuppa and somehow swallow my noodles. Who gives a flying f&#^ about the test, let fate take its course…It has always been that way…For the last 3 semesters at least. I plan, and God laughs.

Somewhere in A-110, Homi Bhabha Hall of Residence, a guy dumps his clothes and books and empty cigarette boxes off the bed and prepares to sleep.

Another day in the life of crash_w!lDcHilD

Peace be with you…

crash_w!lDcHilD



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Realms of Desolation

Woah...so the first post...and I find myself completely devoid of thoughts. All my wit and creativity, vacant, vanished.
What could I possibly write about, I am an out-and-out narcissist, I love exploring the dark side of life, I find peace in the deafening sound of Dimmu Borgir and Children of Bodom and I lead a highly inordinate lifestyle bordering on the edge of insanity at times.
So the best thing I can think of right now, is about something all of us do, very often in fact (wink wink) , and we all love doing it. Yes, I am talking about the "Art of Wasting Time"

How did I end up mastering this art, I guess my blog ID would tell a part of the story. Dazed, confused and possessed by a million thoughts and emotions at the same time helped establish me as a Guru in this art. I try very hard indeed to connect the dots before taking even one single step towards action. This is different from procrastination, I don't try putting off the work till a later occasion, I just try hard at predicting what the finished thing would look like even before starting it. I hope I loose this habit soon, or else it would be tough extending my bloodline. It is often good to act stupid, foolish and inquisitive because curiosity killed the cat, but worked for everyone else. People in favor of my theory would argue that trying to connect the dots is a symbol of being a perfectionist. But for a guy like me, it merely means tripping on your own ego when back out from a contest to avoid the embarrassment of losing.
I have never attempted to kick this habit; I guess I love using up time for engaging in activities that may not be very very productive. But then, everything that we do does not always remodel into some kind of gain - physical or psychological.
I will never look back and say that playing Age of Empires 6 hours everyday has helped shape me into what I am now, but back in the day I would be gaming without any sense of remorse or guilt, even if that meant scoring a little lower than what I usually would.
I guess the verdict is simple...Live for today, think about tomorrow...But party tonight.

Peace be with you...

crash_w!lDcHilD

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